COLLABORATION -
Twenty-five leading global companies, including Google, Nestlé, Unilever, PepsiCo, DuPont and Kellogg’s announced during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland that they were joining together to launch FReSH, the Food Reform for Sustainability and Health program, under the leadership of the World Business Council for Sustainable
PRESS RELEASE -
Unilever UK & Ireland has signed a deal with a renewable energy company GENeco, which means that from 1 January 2017, its offices in Leatherhead (Surrey) and 100 Victoria Embankment (London), and its food and drink factories in Norwich, Trafford Park and Cork, will use by 10,000 MWh of biomethane to power the sites’ heating and significantly reduce carbon emissions from the sites. With electricity already coming from certified renewable sources, the purchase of a certified supply of bioemethane means that Unilever has become carbon neutral [from energy sources] at these five sites.
The biomethane – which is fully traceable and certified – is generated by GENeco’s anaerobic digester in Avonmouth, which converts inedible food waste and sewage into energy.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
The City of London broke its 2017 air pollution limits just five days into the new year, a whole three days ahead of its 2016 record. In response, Greenpeace enlisted the help of Mary Poppins to call on politicians to clean up the UK’s air to protect children’s lungs. A silhouette of the childhood champion was spotted flying high over Parliament, armed with her iconic umbrella and a new accessory — a pollution mask.
CLEANTECH -
The Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) has awarded 2015 SBIO winner LanzaTech, a carbon-recycling company, $4 million to design and plan a demonstration-scale facility using industrial off gases to produce 3 million gallons a year of low-carbon jet and diesel fuels.
CLEANTECH -
Every 15 years, the United Nations gets together to determine its next steps in bettering the earth and the people on it. In late 2015, this took the form of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The SDGs focus on climate action, decreasing poverty, increasing access to health, reducing inequality, and increasing sustainable development, in both rural and developed areas, over the next 15 years. Although the goals appear broad and ambitious, the UN aims to further the advancement of people while protecting and fostering the health and wellbeing of the planet.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
On Monday, the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC) announced the completion of a multi-hospital plastics recycling project in Chicago, collaborating with the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS). Focused on non-infectious plastic packaging and products collected from clinical areas of the hospitals, the project sought to demonstrate a viable business model for recycling healthcare plastics on a regional level.
CLEANTECH -
A number of data platforms have emerged in recent months that aim to help give organizations an eagle-eye view of issues such as deforestation and climate resilience, but one startup is using the power of data to engage individuals who have yet to understand how global environmental problems may be affecting them personally.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) has voted unanimously to update U.S. organic standards to exclude ingredients derived from next-generation genetic engineering and gene editing.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Modern global nutritional problems derive from food excess as well as food shortage. Traditionally a first-world problem, obesity is now spreading to developing countries. Individual countries and companies are responding to the Sustainable Development Goal to improve nutrition. One unique employee cafeteria has sparked a huge movement to improve nutrition in Japan.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Hot on the heels of its release earlier this month of the world’s first football and running performance products made from upcycled marine plastic waste, adidas continues its journey toward revolutionizing materials with the unveiling of the world’s first performance shoe made using Biosteel® fiber – a synthetic version of spider silk.
COLLABORATION -
Increasing access to clean, safe and sustainable sanitation to 10 million people by 2022 is a top priority for personal care corporation Kimberly-Clark’s Sustainability 2022 goals, and on November 19, World Toilet Day, the company renewed its commitment to its Toilets Change Lives program, a multi-national commercial program that leverages the power of its well-known brands to educate and engage consumers and help solve the global sanitation crisis.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
RB, the leading consumer health and hygiene company behind brands such as Lysol, Durex, Nurofen, Strepsils, Gaviscon, Mucinex, Scholl, and Clearasil, has launched a startup programme on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions are a major issue for oil and gas, chemicals, food and pharmaceutical industries. During the storage of ethereal liquids such as fuels and solvents, vapors can create a toxic, flammable or even explosive ‘cloud.’
In the past, oil and gas companies have fit their storage tanks with internal floating roofs made of assembled plates. The systems are efficient, but have high set up costs and can require significant maintenance work.
French startup Elbé Pétro has developed an alternative technology inspired by duckweed – small aquatic plants that free-float on still water ponds – to help address chemical evaporation in storage tanks.
PRESS RELEASE -
United Airlines is proud to announce that we have been honored with four awards in just the past week, recognizing our work to make environmental sustainability part of the DNA of our operations.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The latest textile innovations include a new TENCEL® made from cotton fabric waste, recently picked up by Patagonia, and a research breakthrough that could lead to ‘tarantula blue’ textiles.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Engineers from the University of Colorado Boulder (CUB) have developed a bio-manufacturing process that uses a biological organism cultivated in brewery wastewater to create the carbon-based materials needed to make energy storage cells.
The process could represent a win-win by reducing expensive wastewater treatment costs for beer makers while providing manufacturers with a more cost-effective means of creating renewable, naturally derived fuel cell technologies.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
We could finally be entering an age where medical and research testing on laboratory animals for human safety is no longer necessary.
A team of scientists and engineers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is developing an alternative called the Isolation Chip (iCHIP). Formally known as the in-vitro Chip-based Human Investigational Platform (still iCHIP), it can replicate the central nervous system (brain), peripheral nervous system, the blood-brain barrier and the heart – the basic four biological systems required for life.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Every business owner and resident in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, felt the impact of the August 2016 storms, whether or not their home or workplace flooded. It’s estimated that three out of every 10 homes in the Baton Rouge area had flood damage. Considering the area is home to more than 820,000 people, it’s clear the recovery will continue for some time.
PRESS RELEASE -
US 10/13/16
Atlanta and Kigali, Rwanda
Up To 150 Emergency Medical Drone Flights a Day
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Add sewage sludge and seaweed to the list of raw materials that have potential for circular economy solutions: Toyota is experimenting with converting human waste into hydrogen to fuel its Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car; and Wageningen Food & Biobased Research has been exploring seaweed’s potential for a range of products including fuels, bioplastics and animal feed, as well as opportunities for symbiosis for seaweed cultivation and byproduct use.